Story of an Old Camera: Disguise Of Present Time

Though I have misused it many times that’s why my Camera forgot me and left for an unfinished journey to find out his ideal or most suitable 'Mallik' ( Owner) exempted with fake glamour, owner with great human values and pride, owner who seeks his multi dimensional photo frame in creativity, owner of enthusiasm with an élan to capture the image of sun, owner who has courage to climb the mount Everest and use myself to capture the most joyous event of life; the victorious moment.

Usually he tried to talk to me about his needs, his attitude, his way of life in which he desire to capture the life in different frames but my greedy nature never allow me to think beyond my long lasting fulfillment of intoxicated desire with respect to common ground for enjoying human life. I forget him before the opera of white skinned nudity or I caught in the deepness of social sickness for my amorous appetite, I forgot his desire to discover a new passion of life, which leads generations to pinnacle of life and evolve them from the penchant of idealness, morality, deep rooted leadership and respect for all being, I forgot so I lost him at last. I live with him almost three years and he must have reminded me around thousand times to take care of his needs but I never thought about his need in due course of my fantasy for money, fantasy for sex and violence, remarkable hold of corruption in society and remains of great cultural identity and destruction of historical events marked in great Indian history. Media, my partner has lost his identity in dogmatic principle of capitalism and ideological flow of west. Creativity was his core strength to put a multi dimensional light on the bureaucracy of contemporary times, overflowing political corruptness and duality of current economic strength of nation like India.
Though I had used my Camera for manifestation of the sexual heterodoxy on ‘Page Three’ in some ‘Times of India…’ regularly to make my identity on the same plane but it was a complete lost of identity in fact a dogmatic lost of purpose for it was driven to hands of contemporary Media. I have created many school of negative thought like pornography, breaching of private life, political violence in the name of Religion and Race, criminalization, sexual atrocities, gender inequality and massacre of humanity and programme for purposeless publicity. Every flash of him reminded me of shivering naked truth situated before my eyes and nervousness hovering on my body is witnessing the existence of remaining ethical values in mankind but I was suffering from megalomania and became the victim of dilemma between crossovers of boundaries. I completely lost in another world that were fulfilling my fantasies. Subjectivity of naked truth in front of camera jolted me from inside but my eyes weakened to the state where I could not distinguished between thinking and doing of myself which were followed by a dilemma of pluralism of life and languished to a situation of amnesia. Every time I was using him for selfish purpose and yet again I was deceiving myself.
Was it a chronological stride towards postmodern era, which is pointing towards the selfish nature of social events and its pertaining organizers? Or it was an unscrupulous attempt of institutional power to keeping juvenile intellect to away from the main play ground of science and humanity.
I think it is undiscovered disguise of present time to fulfill our desire in order to find out new cultural identity that is indeed contaminated with the undesired elements which are having properties of exploiting science and humanity and up to some extant the autonomy and hegemony of static boundaries.
I have weakened the foundation of my own home with my own hands and become the victim of vengeance, which is regenerative and destructive in nature.
Parameters needed to conclude the event, which is representing the whole mechanizing world, which has a strong hold upon the daily life of mankind. Eventually it can be speculated to conclude that there is a need to discover the occult science with help of theses materialistic things to see the pervasive effect on human kind and to refrain from pathway, which leads to degeneration of human kind.

Congress Election Manifesto: Back to some fifty years ago

The congress has always stood for the Indian people. In the past it offered a plateform to all sections of the community who aspired for national Independence. As the national independence deepened, it succedded in unifying different sections and their conflicting interests in the common fight against Britain. When independence was won, there was considerable speculation about the future of Congress ( Indian National Congress) and the role it could play in a free India. Political freedom had been the rallying point. Would the congress be able to maintain its hold on the people after its major task had been accomplished? The question was relevent and natural, but it did not become urgent or insistent enough not to brook any delay. For political freedom came with partition, the ravages of which had immediatly to be repaired. There was also question of native stated which had be integrated with the british administrative services under the aegis of Mr. Mountbetton ( then governer general of India) . As power was transferred to Congress it automatically bacame the depository of the nations trust, its hands were full with pressing and urgent problems which demanded immediate attention.

The first Government formed at the center was consciously made into a Government of the best talents then available in the country, and though it was the congress party which formed it, pains were taken to give it a national character. Then came the consitituion and the first general elections which the Congress fought as a party and won. Since then, Congress has functioned as party but is has nevertheless continued to claim abd retain the allegiance of nearly all sections of the people. In the next five years instead of opinions being crystallised on party lines and other parties gaining in strenght and organising themselves effectively in order to bring about a different alignment of political forces, oposition has not ceased but it has failed to get politically organised.

On the eve of the second general elections that the Congress will fight, therefore, its election manifesto cannot be and should not be judged as the programme of a single party which the voter is free to accept or reject. It is useless to ask today is it that Congress is the only party that contends for political power. The election manifesto has to be judged by other standards. The Congress has to satisfy the people from whom it draws its strenght that it is responsive to their aims and aspirations and that it can give the fittest expression to them and that even in the implementation of its various policies, it will win the active support of the people and uphold the faith of those who put their trust in.


EPW.

How do we remember Saddam Hussain? -I

History is quite fond of people and in the time they live in. Sometimes apearance is meticulously marked for future in history pages however some images loose their identity due to political and social pressure of that time. But certainly these people and time have meaningful life to fetch the ubiquitous zeal of submitting a sparking source to the collection political and social history of time.

Saddam Hussain was one of the personalities on whom coming generations can doubt under the shadow of anarchy in present Iraq with the image of political corruptness and tyrannical, apostate, dictator of present time.

This article of mine is an attempt to follow the time in which Saddam Hussain Al-Tikriti lived and also an attempt to delineate the image which Saddam carry after the cruel execution of him under the eye of US led government and its allies.

He was born on april 28 1937 in the town of Al-Awja 13 km from the Iraqi town of Tikrit in the Sunni Triangle, to a family of shepherds from the al-Begat tribal group.

Early childhood of Saddam was quite cruel in nature from as his stepfather Ibrahim al-hassan treated him very harshly and due to that, he fled to Iraq at the age of ten and lived with his uncle Kharaillah Tulfah. Moreover, this time was almost responsible for shaping of his psyche with not accepting mode of cruel intentions of nature over his body and soul, emphasis mine.

However, certainly there were events in his life, which inoculate his mind for humanity some times, which results in form of question over humanity in present era of rising global powers as defendant of peace over world.

Tulfah, the father of Saddam's future wife, was a devout Sunni Muslim and a veteran from the Iraqi-British war of 1941. Later in his life, relatives from his native Tikrit would become some of his closest advisors and supporters. According to Saddam, he learned many things from his uncle, a militant Iraqi nationalist. Under the guidance of his uncle, he attended a nationalistic secondary school in Baghdad. After secondary school, Saddam studied at Iraq's School of Law for three years, prior to dropping out in 1957, at the age of twenty, to join the revolutionary pan-Arab Ba'ath Party, of which his uncle was a supporter. During this time, Saddam apparently supported himself as a secondary school teacher.

Revolutionary sentiment was characteristic of the era in Iraq and throughout the Middle East. The stranglehold of the old elites (the conservative monarchists, established families, and merchants) was breaking down in Iraq. Moreover, the populist pan-Arab nationalism of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt would profoundly influence the young Ba'athist, even up until his death. The rise of Nasser foreshadowed a wave of revolutions throughout the Middle East in the 1950s and 1960s, which would see the collapse of the monarchies of Iraq, Egypt, and Libya. Nasser challenged the British and French, nationalized the Suez Canal, and strove to modernize Egypt and unite the Arab world politically.

In 1958, a year after Saddam had joined the Ba'ath party, army officers led by General Abdul Karim Qassim overthrew Faisal II of Iraq. The Ba'athists opposed the new government, and in 1959, Saddam was involved in the attempted United States-backed plot to assassinate Qassim.

Now from here Saddam starts expansion of his political regime with global world powers that in turn creating the covert grave for Saddam Hussain by seeing his growing power and impression on Ba’ath party members and ofcourse on Iraqi peoples.

Having exultant attitude towards capturing the regime of Iraq with diplomatic psyche of politics he was exacerbating in the house of his own people with the growing threat of mass murder, executions, political imprisonment, merciless beatings, eye gougings, electric shock, amputations, beheadings, rape rooms, lethal concentration camps, assassinations and religious persecution.

Severity is still to discuss and will appear in next part of this article soon to follow the political life of Saddam Hussain and involvement of US-led diplomatic and shrewd policies into the making of new Iraqi dictator of that time also its effect on Iraq's political and economical career with restpect to the global acknowledgement of quality of human living standards accross the boundaries. In factIt was a starting point for the new identity of Iraq which was shaping through the hands and mind of its new president, new man in the army The Saddam Hussain.

First Shadow of My Lady

This is not complete yet. I'm still working on it.

This is for my dear friend Udayan.

Founding one Hundred Years of All India Muslim League 1906-2006

Mr. M.A. Jinnah ( Founder of Pakistan)

The Lost Kohinoor

It was from the memories of my childhood when I read my history textbooks with expired interest due to colossal collection of events and facts written across the thousand pages. At that time, I heard and read about 'Kohinoor' a precious stone and fascinated with the glory with this piece of precious stone shadowed with. That was the time when the quest to know more about this diamond, the glory hide inside my unconscious. And this is the time after more than 15 years when it comes to the swirling and rejuvenating memory of mine again during contemplation of this historical object, which is some kind of history in itself, it created a need to introspect to drive through the marked history that Kohinoor had in form of either a war history or inform of conspiracy model of long journey through time.



Kohinoor [Mountain of Light ] Picture is in right

Assuming history as a source of knowledge and information of events, some say that the Kohinoor was originally founded more than 5000 years ago, and is mentioned in ancient Sanskrit writings under the name of Syamantaka. Devout Hindus claims that Lord Krishna himself obtained the diamond from Jambavantha, whose daughter Jambavati later married Krishna. The legend says that the diamond was stolen from Krishna as he lay sleeping. By contrast, another source has it that the diamond was discovered in a riverbed in 3200 BC.

Historical evidence suggests that the Kohinoor originated in Golconda kingdom, in Hyderabad state of Andhra Pradesh, one of the world's earliest diamond producing regions. South Indian folklore is definite in claiming a local origin for the stone. It is certain that the stone was mined in India, as until the 19th century India was the only place in the world where diamonds were known. It is likely that the diamond was mined in the Kollur mines in the present day Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, India.

The Khilji dynasty at Delhi ended in 1320 A.D and Ghiasuddin Tughlaq ascended the Delhi throne. Tughlaq sent his son Ulugh Khan in 1323 to defeat the Kakatiya king Pratapa Rudra. Ulugh Khan’s raid was repulsed but he returned in a month with a larger and determined army. The unprepared army of Warangal was defeated. The loot, plunder and destruction of Warangal continued for months. Loads of gold, diamonds, pearls and ivory were carried away to Delhi on elephants and camels. The Koh-i-noor diamond was part of the booty. From then onwards, the stone passed through the hands of successive rulers of the Delhi sultanate, finally passing to Babur, the first Mughal emperor, in 1526.

The first confirmed note historically mentioning the Kohinoor by an identifiable name dates from 1526. Babur mentions in his memoirs, the Baburnama, that the stone had belonged to an un-named Rajah of Malwa in 1294. Babur held the stone's value to be such as to feed the whole world for two days. The Baburnama recounts how this Rajah of Malwa was compelled to yield his prized possession to Alauddin Khilji; it was then owned by a succession of dynasties that ruled the Delhi sultanate, finally coming into the possession of Babur himself in 1526, following his victory over the last ruler of that kingdom. However, the Baburnama was written c.1526-30; Babur's source for this information is unknown, and he may have been recounting the hearsay of his day. He did not at that time call the stone by its present name, but despite some debate about the identity of 'Babur's Diamond' it seems likely that it was the stone which later became known as Kohinoor.

At that time it was said to weigh 793 carats, but through some incredibly ham-fisted cutting and polishing by a jeweller named Borgio it was reduced to 186 carats. Borgio had been working on it for years, but so enraged was Aurungzebe (the Emperor at the time) at the result that he confiscated all Borgio's worldly goods and contemplated executing him as well.

The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan — famous for building the Taj Mahal — had the stone placed into his ornate Peacock Throne. When Shah Jahan's son, Aurangazeb, put his ailing father under house arrest at nearby Agra Fort, legend has it that he had the Kohinoor stationed against a window so that Shah Jahan could look at the stone and see the Taj reflected in it. There it stayed until the invasion of Nadir Shah in 1739 and the sacking of Agra and Delhi. Along with the Peacock Throne, he also carried off the Koh-i-noor to Persia in 1739. It was allegedly Nadir Shah who exclaimed Koh-i-Noor, the mountain of light! When he finally managed to obtain the famous stone and this is how the stone gained its present name. There is no reference to this name before 1739.

The valuation of the Kohinoor is given in the legend that one of Nadir Shah's consorts supposedly said, 'If a strong man should take five stones, and throw one north, one south, one east, and one west, and the last straight up into the air, and the space between filled with gold and gems, that would equal the value of the Koh-i-noor'

After the assassination of Nadir Shah in 1747 it came into the hands of Ahmed Shah Abdali of Afghanistan. In 1830, Shah Shuja, the deposed ruler of Afghanistan, managed to flee with the Kohinoor diamond. He then came to Lahore, the capital of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, where it was given to the Sikh Maharaja (King) of Punjab Ranjit Singh, in which after, in return, Maharaja Ranjit Singh was able to persuade the East India Company to lend their troops and win back the Afghan throne for Shah Shuja. Ranjit Singh crowned himself as the ruler of Punjab and willed the Koh-i-noor to Jagannath Temple in Orissa while on his deathbed in 1839. But there was dispute about this last-minute testament, and in any case it was not executed. On March 29, 1849, the British flag was hoisted on the citadel of Lahore and the Punjab was formally proclaimed to be part of the British Empire in India. One of the terms of the Treaty of Lahore, the legal agreement formalising this occupation, was as follows:

The gem called the Koh-i-Noor which was taken from Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk by Maharajah Ranjit Singh shall be surrendered by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England.

The Governor-General in charge for the ratification of this treaty was Lord Dalhousie. More than anyone, Dalhousie was responsible for the British acquiring the Koh-i-Noor, in which he continued to show great interest for the rest of his life. Dalhousie's work in India was sometimes controversial, and his acquisition of the diamond, amongst many other things, was criticised by some contemporary British commentators. Although some suggested that the diamond should have been presented as a gift to the Queen, it is clear that Dalhousie felt strongly that the stone was a spoil of war, and treated it accordingly. Writing to his friend Sir George Cooper in August of 1849, he stated this:

The Court [of the East India Company] you say, are ruffled by my having caused the Maharajah to cede to the Queen the Koh-i-noor; while the 'Daily News' and my Lord Ellenborough [Governor-General of India, 1841-44] are indignant because I did not confiscate everything to her Majesty... [My] motive was simply this: that it was more for the honour of the Queen that the Koh-i-noor should be surrendered directly from the hand of the conquered prince into the hands of the sovereign who was his conqueror, than it should be presented to her as a gift -- which is always a favour -- by any joint-stock company among her subjects. So the Court ought to feel.

Dalhousie arranged that the diamond should be presented by Maharaja Ranjit Singh's successor, Duleep Singh, to Queen Victoria in 1851. Duleep travelled to the United Kingdom to do this. The presentation of the Kohinoor to Queen Victoria was the latest in the long history of transfers of the stone as a spoil of war. It was later proclaimed by Indian government on the return of Kohinoor to India claiming Duleep singh as an 16 year old boy as king, as innocent child, who was not aware the historical and cultural values associated with the precious Kohinoor.

The Kohinoor was first displayed to the British public or in fact to this scale of public at the Great Exhibition staged in Hyde Park, London in 1851. Although the diamond was showing the brilliant in itself in terms of its size and shape but some elite thinkers or valuators thought and quest that the stone is displaying insufficient fire. It was decided to re-cut it from its original Indian form, and a member of the Amsterdam firm of Costar was called to London to cut the stone. A steam-driven cutting wheel was set up, and Prince Albert see the stone on the wheel, while the Duke of Wellington started it. The cutting took 38 days, but did not add much to the stone's brilliance. It was rather believed that the cutting diminished the historical value of the diamond. In addition, the value reduced to the 105.603 carats. Later the stone was mounted in a tiara with more than two thousand other diamonds. And used in several celebrations in Royal house and later it is been procured in crown of jewels after the death of Queen Elizabeth ( Queen mother) in 2002.

After the historical description of associated events in transfer of Kohinoor from hand to hand in very brief and chronological time frame it can be said that there is a conspiracy associated with it with respect to the persuasion of this great stone which has a distinct cultural meaning for the inhabitants of different regions where this stone was there for some time. Now after having a close look to the events, this diamond was either looted by some mogul dictator or been snatched away by the British conspirators. Historically this diamond belong to India and have lineage of history and a cultural style which was persistently been a part of India as people said that India was a country of Gold before looted by her British invaders. India was been exploited by it mogul ruler and East India company at last. Now this is the time when we are approaching towards a global identity with predefined intellectual associations with future, we need to acquire our cultural inheritance by regaining our precious emblems through diplomatic talks. Although the Kohinoor is one of the Noors[Crown], which India had before long years of slavery under different rulers of different regions, but we cannot eviscerate this precious and meaningful object from our historical inheritance to procure our unique cultural style in this globalize village of present time.